An Interview with Ms. Kim, Young Sook of Emmanuel Orphange in Korea
An Orphanage Director’s Perspective
(
This interview was conducted by Steve Morrison in front of many visiting adoptees and Korean nationals at one of the gatherings in Seoul, Korea three years ago.
Q: Please introduce
yourself.
A: My name is Kim Young Sook and I have worked 19
years at the Emmanuel Orphange in the city of Kim Cheon.
Q: You must have
witnessed many children come and go while working at the Emmanuel
Orphanage. About how many children have
you served?
A: Because I was there
19 years, I would guess around 350 children have come and gone.
Q: What were the typical
reasons why the children were admitted to your facility?
A: There are various reasons. In the old days
many children lost their parents but today many children come in because
parents cannot fulfill their responsibilities.
For example children born out-of-wedlock, abandoned, or dysfunctional
families due to parental separation or divorce.
Q: For the children in
your facility, about what percentage of birth parents come and visit your
children?
A: Most parents drop off their children in the
orphanage promising that they will come to reclaim their children once the
economic situations improve. But most of
them don’t keep their promises as they entrust the babies and the babies grow
up in the orphanage as parents are never heard from again.
Q: Do children wish that
their parents would one day show up?
A: Yes. That is true. They hope that their parents would come and
take them back home. When they don’t
hear from their parents and when they see their friends get adopted, they come
to me saying, “Mrs. Kim I want to be adopted too.” And they are very envious of
their friends.
Q: What is the age when
orphans are sent out of the Emmanuel facility?
A: Typically when they turn 18 that’s when they
are sent out.
Q: What sorts of preparations
are being done now when they are sent out?
A: In the old days they
were sent out without any preparations, but since 1990 they were given
Adjustment to Independence money of around $1,000, and today they are receiving
around $5,000. The amount varies
depending on the cities, if the city has money, the outgoing orphans are given $5,000,
and if the city has some difficulty in finance they are given only $2,000 to
$3,000. But Kim Cheon city gives out
$5,000 to our outgoing boys and girls since last year. Nowadays we also provide needed items when they leave.
Q: No matter how much an
orphanage may prepare its children, Isn’t it still very challenging for the
orphans to adjust to the real world?
A: Once an orphan leaves the institution, he/she has
no place to turn. Once he leaves the
facility his sponsorship by various people will end and he needs to stand
alone. If an orphan leaves the facility
with no specific preparation to work anywhere, then their livelihood becomes
very basic level through various menial labors just to survive.
Q: Do most of the
orphanages require orphans leave their facilities when they turn 18?
A: Not most, but all of
the facilities are like that. They are
sent out when orphans turn 18, but in some special circumstances or when he/she
goes to college they are given longer stay in the orphanage.
Q: Despite all the
hardships that orphans may face after leaving the institution, aren’t there
some successful cases?
A: Of course, there are. No matter how difficult an environment is, if
a person works hard they can be successful.
There have been pastors, teachers, nurses, kindergarten directors that
came out of our orphanage, but successes like these are very few.
Q: How is the education
level for the orphans? Can you give some
comparisons from early years versus today?
A: 10 years ago, it was very difficult for
orphans to go to colleges. Only 3% - 5%
went to colleges. The reason is that
institutionalized children cannot afford to go to colleges, and also because they
live in the institutions they are at significant academic disadvantage. But now things are different as the
Government provides some assistance to orphans who want to go to colleges, but
the rate of orphans going to college is still far lower than children from
ordinary families.
Q: What do you feel is
the main difference between domestic adoption and the intercountry adoption?
A: I’m sure that adoptive families love their
children. But from my experience in
domestic adoption, Koreans adopting are very conditional such as a child must
be pretty, and have a good personality.
But for the intercountry adoption, many adoptive parents are open even
special needs, and that tells me that adoption for them is child centered
rather than parent centered as it is for Korean adoption.
Q: Now, do you wish to
say anything to the visiting adoptees?
A: As I look at all of you, I feel so moved to
see all of you grown up so beautifully.
You have been blessed to grow up in your homes and receive much love and
happiness. But in our orphanage there
are still many children waiting to be adopted. In our facility, there are
children whose parents don’t care nor ever pay a visit, and the fact that these
children have parents somewhere make them unadoptable, and this is very painful
for me to think about. These children would be better off growing up in
families rather than stay in institutions.
It is my sincerest desire to see all the children at our facility be
adopted into loving homes someday.
